Inkjet printers have become popular for printing on media, especially when precise printing of color images is needed. For instance, such printers have become popular for printing color image files generated using digital cameras, for printing color copies of business presentations, and so on. An inkjet printer is more generically an image-forming device that forms images onto media, such as paper.
To ensure that inkjet printing is performed optimally, the media type of the media that is being used may be specified to the inkjet printer. For example, plain paper, bond paper, transparency media, and photo paper are all different types of media. These different types of media have different properties that, among other things, affect how ink is absorbed or dried on the media.
Therefore, it can be useful to specify to the inkjet printer the type of media currently being used. This allows the inkjet printer to modify how it ejects ink onto the media, such as the speed at which it ejects ink onto the media, as well as the volume of ink it ejects onto the media, and other inkjet-printing variables. If the wrong type of media is specified, or if the printer is otherwise not aware of the type of media being used, print quality can suffer.